Gamboge
Encyclopedia
Gamboge is a partially transparent dark mustard yellow pigment
.Other forms and spellings are: cambodia, cambogium, camboge, cambugium, gambaugium, gambogia, gambozia, gamboidea, gambogium, gumbouge, gambouge, gamboge, gambooge, gambugia. (Oxford English Dictionary)
Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees of the family Guttiferae (also known as Clusiaceae
), most often of the gamboge tree (genus Garcinia
), including G. hanburyi
(Cambodia
and Thailand
), G. morella (India
and Sri Lanka
), and G. elliptica and G. heterandra (Myanmar
); the orange fruit of Garcinia gummi-gutta (formerly called G. cambogia) is also known as gamboge or gambooge.
The trees must be ten years old before they are tapped. The resin is extracted by making spiral incisions in the bark, and by breaking off leaves and shoots and letting the milky yellow resinous gum drip out. The resulting latex is collected in hollow bamboo
canes. After the resin is congealed, the bamboo is broken away and large rods of raw gamboge remain.
The first recorded use of gamboge as a color name in English
was in 1634.
It is used to dye Buddhist monks' robes
.
.
. The pigment has a color similar to that of natural gamboge.
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
.Other forms and spellings are: cambodia, cambogium, camboge, cambugium, gambaugium, gambogia, gambozia, gamboidea, gambogium, gumbouge, gambouge, gamboge, gambooge, gambugia. (Oxford English Dictionary)
Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees of the family Guttiferae (also known as Clusiaceae
Clusiaceae
The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. is a family of plants formerly including about 37 genera and 1610 species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsules for seeds. It is primarily tropical...
), most often of the gamboge tree (genus Garcinia
Garcinia
Garcinia is a plant genus of the family Clusiaceae native to Asia, Australia, tropical and southern Africa, and Polynesia. The number of species is highly disputed, with various sources recognizing between 50 and about 300 taxa as specifically valid...
), including G. hanburyi
Garcinia hanburyi
Garcinia hanburyi is a plant species in the genus Garcinia the gamboge trees.Names :* English : Hanbury's Garcinia, Gambojia, Gamboge, Indian Gamboge tree* Indian : Tamāla or Tamal* German : Gummi-gutti...
(Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
), G. morella (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
), and G. elliptica and G. heterandra (Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
); the orange fruit of Garcinia gummi-gutta (formerly called G. cambogia) is also known as gamboge or gambooge.
The trees must be ten years old before they are tapped. The resin is extracted by making spiral incisions in the bark, and by breaking off leaves and shoots and letting the milky yellow resinous gum drip out. The resulting latex is collected in hollow bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
canes. After the resin is congealed, the bamboo is broken away and large rods of raw gamboge remain.
The first recorded use of gamboge as a color name in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
was in 1634.
It is used to dye Buddhist monks' robes
Kasaya (clothing)
Kāṣāya are the robes of Buddhist monks and nuns, named after a brown or saffron dye. In Sanskrit and Pali, these robes are also given the more general term cīvara, which references the robes without regard to color....
.
Etymology of gamboge
The word gamboge comes from gambogium, the Latin word for the pigment, which derives from Gambogia, the Latin word for CambodiaCambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
.
New gamboge
New gamboge is synthetic yellow pigmentPigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
. The pigment has a color similar to that of natural gamboge.
External links
- http://www.sewanee.edu/chem/Chem&Art/Detail_Pages/Pigments/Gamboge